Aimee Lou Wood has recounted how Angelina Jolie supported her when she spoke up about working conditions on the set of the forthcoming film 'Anxious People'. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the 'Sex Education' and 'The White Lotus' star said she found her voice after previously calling out a 'mean and unfunny' impression of her on 'Saturday Night Live'.
Wood explained that during the filming of an emotional scene for 'Anxious People', directed by Marc Forster and co-starring Jolie, she began to panic because she was receiving directions from shouting crew members. She asked for one direction, one voice, and no hand movements in her line of sight. 'I’ve spent years feeling unable to say anything like that for fear of seeming argumentative – but now I feel like I can take ownership of what I need to thrive,' she said. 'When I spoke up, all I could see was Angelina giving me a thumbs up. She’s possibly the most famous woman ever, but she’s so normal.'
Wood described a similar catharsis after her SNL intervention, which she likened to breaking a pattern of not standing up to childhood bullies. During an April sketch, the show parodied 'The White Lotus' Season 3, with Sarah Sherman sporting buck teeth to mock Wood’s character Chelsea, a joke that came after Wood had expressed exhaustion over constant discussion of her own teeth.
The actress, recently cast as Pattie Boyd in Sam Mendes’ Beatles film series, spoke about the toll Hollywood has taken on her mental health. 'I find LA emotionally bulimic, and I say that as an ex-bulimic,' she told Harper’s Bazaar. 'It is this super-sized adventure where everyone’s talking about you all the time and you have to talk about yourself all the time. And then I leave, and I want to throw it all up.'
Deadline first reported Wood’s casting in 'Anxious People', which is based on a novel by Fredrik Backman. The film’s synopsis reads: 'The day before Christmas Eve, investment banker Zara (Jolie) begrudgingly finds herself mingling with a group of strangers at an open house. When a reluctant bank robber, Grace (Wood), inadvertently takes the group hostage, chaos and oversharing ensues, secrets are revealed and literally nothing goes according to plan.'
